Gervaise

Based on a Zola novel about the evils of alcoholism, Rene Clement's film shifts the emphasis from a study of life in a gin-house to the downward spiral of one of its poverty-stricken characters, Gervaise (Maria Schell). The time is the 1850s, the location is the poorest section of Montmartre in Paris. Only 18 years old, Gervaise already has two children by her lover, Lantier (Armand Mestral), who leaves her. She goes to a local bathhouse and learns that he has fled with Virginie (Suzy Delair), the sister of a neighbor. Some time later, Gervaise marries the kind and gentle Coupeau (Francois Perier), with whom she has a daughter, and life finally seems to have a glim...